Steve Eats 7 Christmas Cookies; Gets Sick Afterwards

December 16, 2000

LITTLETON, CO -- Steve Garufi had one of his notorious eating frenzies at a cookie-making
Christmas party last night that led to so-called 'tummy problems' according Steve.

Admitting
to have eaten five sugar
cookies with icing throughout the fun social gathering in the southerwestern Denver suburb,
Steve’s snacking of
two more cookies on his long drive back to Colorado Springs brought him to
the brink of stomach agony.

Despite his consumption of five sugar cookies, two slices of pizza and 3 cups of soda,
Steve said he ‘felt fine’ as he
socialized throughout the evening with people predominantly from the Colorado Christian
University counseling program. However, when he ate two more cookies that
were given to him on his way home, that’s when Steve’s stomach troubles began.

“I didn’t vomit or anything, but
let’s just say my stomach was upset
with me for much of the night. I don’t think anybody really knew how many
cookies I ate.” he said with a chuckle the next morning.

Cookie Party

Despite Garufi’s crankiness about his stomach, the evening was very enjoyable for
Steve and his friends.

The modest party consisted of a gathering of people that sat in front of a fireplace
and well-decorated Christmas tree as "Christmas Vacation" played on the VCR.
The highlight of the evening, however, involved the cookies, particularly using cookie cutters
to design shapes and icing the cookies after they were baked.

Instead of making traditional Christmas shapes like stockings, snowmen, angels and candy canes, Steve designed cookies in the shapes of Utah, Minnesota, Michigan and North Dakota.

Michelle S., from Fargo, North Dakota was extremely impressed with
the North Dakota cookie, which also had markings for Bismarck, Fargo
and Interstate highways 29 and 94.

“Nobody knows these things about North Dakota! You know everything,
Steve.” said Michelle with a big smile.

“Michelle was impressed, but I think the Utah cookie was the best.
I put red cinnamon things for the mountains and had Interstate 15 on
there and sprinkles for the Salt Lake City area.” explained Steve.

Others handled the cookie decorating task much more seriously.

“I think I’m taking way more time making this than it would take for
someone to eat it.” said Jessica K., who spent 20 minutes creating
a snowman cookie with white icing, cinnamon drops, brown sprinkles, and
an orange nose that looked like a carrot.

Some cookies, according to Steve, were completely covered with thick
icing, which Steve anticipated could be a problem to eat.

“Look at it. It’s like a big sugar mound.” Steve asserted, pointing
to a flower shaped cookie that was decorated by Mandy, a CCU student in the Denver area.

“No, that’s the multi-cultural cookie.” the young woman said with conviction.

“That girl was so cool,” reflected Steve, “She was encouraging about
my hair and said how much fun my hair would be in a hair salon. She scored
so many points with me. Any girl that likes my hair scores points with me.”
exclamed Garufi with elation.

After Steve’s stomach problems from the Christmas cookies, Steve said
he is going to be more prudent in his choice of sweets during the upcoming holidays.
However, Steve’s mind kept reverting back to the fun he had and the new friends he made.

“All these beautiful women making cookies…it was too much for me. What a night!”